Saturday, October 5, 2013

Ideas- The Core of Connected Educator Month

It has taken me a few days to figure out the thoughts that I wanted to share about Connected Educators Month. I get so excited about being a part of a connected network of passionate educators that the words flow very quickly, but I believe that so many others have already been able to articulate the core and essence of the month, so I went searching for the wisdom in the niches.

As I dug to the core of the my energy surrounding being a connected education, I found that ideas were at the core. I know for others it's about the people as it brings a strength from having allies in the battle to change the world through education, and for others, it is about the resources as the release of trapped wisdom into the marketplace amplifies the best ideas and allows them to infect additional learning spaces, but for me, it's the ideas.

Connected educators and and so many others bring fresh ideas and thinking into a system that has a record of lagging in the inspiration to change and holding tight to legacy ideas and practices. We need ideas. We need a fire hose of ideas to bathe the learning of all adults and students. Connected learning provides this opportunity. Blogging, online conversations, and the sharing of the trivial bits and bytes of our days spawn new connections, new schema, and new action. To me, this is the true engine of connected learning.

To allow this to happen to its fullest, connected educators have to pledge to not allow their personal learning network to become an echo chamber where the same ideas are bounced around and confirmed without thought, but instead, we have a responsibility to search for a broad and diverse set of ideas. We must also look for thoughts quite different than ours to ponder and give deep consideration. Finally, we must look for ideas outside of education that can be molded in a sensible way to work in our system as it is transformed into excellence.

There has never been a better moment to be in education. Our opportunity to truly change the world is more robust than ever, so encourage everyone to connect for the people, the resources, and especially the ideas that can power our mission for kids.